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Dalek Format Reviewed: TV/DVD Review The long awaited and eagerly anticipated return of the Daleks to television comes in the form of a story dedicated to the supposedly lone surviving Dalek from the time wars, during which the timelords supposedly perished with the Daleks. Given that context and the fact the Doctor survived, it is also possible for a lone Dalek to have survived. With the Dalek being badly damaged and caged by alien collector Henry van Statten in Utah, the stage is set for the Doctor to resume a rivaly with his most famous adversaries. In van Stattens private museum of alien artifacts there are many nods to Doctor who past, particularly with the Cyberman helmet. This is a nice touch, particularly for those of us old enough to remember the original series. Most of us were expecting the old carnage that the Daleks usually cause when in Doctor Who, which is here, but few expected the 'human' side to the story with Rose again playing a major part in the story. Her interaction with the Dalek is quite touching, although somewhat strange for those of us that remember Davros grating out about removing 'stupid emotions' to make the Daleks the ultimate force in the universe. What bugs me slightly about this story is the fact that the Dalek appears to be so far technologically advanced that nothing could realistically stop it. It has the ability to completely heal itself and it's casing by assimilating the DNA from the touch of Rose, who is a completely different species. It has a force field surrounding it meaning that projectile weapons have no effect and it can swivel the arm section of the body casing independantly (this bit is very cool though). Presumably barring laser type weaponry this new Dalek is almost impervious to attack, and deadly. It's probably a good thing then that it committed suicide. It managed to absorb all the information on the internet in seconds (whatever bandwidth van Statten has I want some of) which is a little unrealistic, and through the lcd monitor of a computer managed to drain power stations. This couldn't happen as the cable supplying power from the stations would fail long before there could be a dramatic drain on resources. There has always been a natural advancement of the Dalek technology between appearances onscreen, but these advancements just seem to be a step too far, even if the changes are all logical progressions. These are a little picky though so I'll largely let them go. This episode really gives us the chance to get a feeling of what the Doctor has been through since he last appeared on our screens though. Judging from the bile with which he verbally attacks the Dalek, a real insight is gained. The most recent previous televised encounters showed the Doctor treating the Daleks and their creator Davros with real comtempt, so the move away from this is positive. This story also marks the first other character to become a Tardis crew member in Adam, played by Bruno Langley. Although his stay on the Tardis is brief, it marks a slight change in the focus of proceedings as concerns the relationships of the Tardis crew. Until now, Rose and the Doctor have been advancing their plutonic relationship and really, any other character would have got in the way. Now, the relationship is well established and there is room for another set of relationships to develop. Overall, Dalek is an exciting episode filled with many good touches and aspects, most of which will surprise the viewer. I still thing the Dalek should be a little less invulnerable though as the ending could appear to be a little contrived, if not a copy of the end of Rememberance of the Daleks. Rating:  |